Senate Bill No. 286
(By Senators Lucht and Felton)
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[Introduced March 4, 1993; referred to the Committee
on the Judiciary; and then to the Committee on Finance.]
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A BILL to amend chapter forty-nine of the code of West Virginia,
one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, by adding
thereto a new article, designated article five-d, relating
to evaluation of minors prior to judicially ordered
placement outside the home; multidisciplinary teams;
diagnostic services; rules; and reporting.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That chapter forty-nine of the code of West Virginia, one
thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, be amended by
adding thereto a new article, designated article five-d, to read
as follows:
ARTICLE 5D. EVALUATION OF MINOR CHILDREN PRIOR TO OUT-OF-HOME
PLACEMENT.
§49-5D-1. Purpose.
The purpose of this article is to provide a system for
evaluation of minor children prior to their being placed for
long periods of time outside their homes by court order. It isfurther the purpose of this article to establish a
multidisciplinary screening, advisory and planning system to
assist courts in determining the advisability of long-term out-
of-home placement, to recommend alternatives and to coordinate
evaluations and in-community services.
§49-5D-2. Procedures.
(a) Whenever, after final adjudication, on motion by any
party or on the circuit court's own motion, it is determined that
a minor child, appearing before the court under the provisions
of article five or six of this chapter, might benefit from
placement outside his or her home and it is anticipated that the
period would exceed ten calendar days, the circuit court shall,
prior to ordering such out-of-home placement, direct that the
minor child be referred to the multidisciplinary team for
evaluation and recommendations.
(b) Upon the completion of the evaluation and the child's
return to court, the court shall consider the evaluation and any
recommendations submitted by the multidisciplinary team. If the
court determines to order a disposition or other action
inconsistent with the multidisciplinary team's recommendation,
it shall state for the record the reasoning therefor.
(c) Nothing in this article limits or prohibits the
temporary placement of a minor in any emergency shelter care
facility, foster home or detention center under circumstances
considered appropriate by the court pending final adjudication or
completion of an evaluation.
§49-5D-3. Multidisciplinary teams; establishment; members;
powers; organizational and monitoring responsibilities of
the department of health and human resources.
(a) The secretary of the department of health and human
resources shall establish multidisciplinary screening, advisory
and planning teams in each judicial circuit of the state. The
multidisciplinary teams shall consist of local representatives
from the department of health and human resources and the county
boards of education. Each of these agencies shall designate a
local representative or representatives to each circuit within
thirty days of the initial effective date of this article. The
secretary of the department of health and human resources shall
notify the chief judge of each circuit the names of the
representatives so designated within fifteen days of their
designation for his or her approval. Any other agency or person
who may contribute positively to the team's efforts to assist the
minor child may be included on the team at the discretion of the
permanent team members. Pursuant to chapter forty-nine, article
five proceedings, juvenile probation officers may choose to
attend. The minor child's attorney shall be invited to
participate in all meetings. If considered appropriate by all
those attending the meeting, the prosecuting attorney may also
attend pursuant to chapter forty-nine, article five proceedings.
(b) When the multidisciplinary team receives a referral from
the circuit court, it shall forthwith direct and coordinate an
evaluation appropriate to the minor child's circumstances. Uponreceipt of the diagnostic report, the multidisciplinary team
shall meet and review the report and develop a recommendation
with regard to future services the minor child might need as well
as a recommendation regarding appropriate disposition or
placement.
(c) The secretary of the department of health and human
resources shall, with the assistance of the county board of
education, organize, convene and monitor the multidisciplinary
teams and coordinate the provision of services needed to
implement the team's decision including preparation of
recommendations to the court. In addition, the secretary of the
department of health and human resources, with the assistance of
the county board of education, shall implement and operate a
statewide tracking and monitoring system to follow the juvenile
through the various agency systems with which the juvenile
becomes involved during the diagnostic evaluations.
§49-5D-4. Diagnostic services; members; responsibilities.
The multidisciplinary team shall use diagnostic services to
evaluate minor children being considered by courts for out-of-
home placement. Diagnostic services shall include existing
public and private service providers in the area and may include
representatives of community mental health centers, school
psychologists and counselors, as well as other qualified mental
health, health, education and social service professionals:
Provided, That whenever possible the diagnostic services shall
involve persons whose practices are located in the judicialcircuit in which the minor child appears. If such persons are
not available in the judicial circuit, the services shall be
provided at a location as close as practicable to the minor
child's residence or place of temporary placement.
§49-5D-5. Cooperation of state, county and local agencies with
the multidisciplinary team; liability waived for violation
of privacy.
State, county and local agencies shall provide the
multidisciplinary team with any information requested in writing
by the team upon receipt of a certified copy of the circuit
court's order directing said agencies to release information in
its possession relating to the child:
Provided, That a
prosecuting attorney or other criminal investigatory agency may
not be required to disclose information nor are confidential
personnel or tax records subject to disclosure under this
section. The circuit court shall enter such an order upon the
motion of either party or on its own motion. When a court order
is obtained, the consent of the child's parent, guardian or
custodian is not required, and there shall be no liability for
violation of privacy or confidentiality for providing the
information relevant to the disposition of the case to the team.
The team shall assure the confidentiality of all information it
receives and develops. The secretary of the department of health
and human resources shall, by promulgation of rules, define the
term "confidentiality" as it relates to this section.
§49-5D-6. Rules; reporting.
(a) The secretary of the department of health and human
resources shall adopt, amend and repeal such legislative rules
consistent with the policy and objectives of this article.
Notwithstanding the provisions of section three, article one,
chapter twenty-nine-a of this code, such rules shall be adopted,
amended and repealed in accordance with the provisions of article
three, chapter twenty-nine-a of the code.
(b) The secretary of the department of health and human
resources shall report to the legislative commission on juvenile
law regarding the cost of the multidisciplinary team program and
the actual services which to that time have been provided, on or
before the fifteenth day of the regular session, one thousand
nine hundred ninety-four.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to provide for the
predisposition diagnostic evaluation of juveniles pursuant to the
legislative mandate outlined in West Virginia Code §49-5-13c.
Under the proposed bill, multidisciplinary teams, including
education and health and human resources personnel, would use
diagnostic services provided by community mental health centers
and others to assist the courts in determining whether out-of-
home placement of juveniles is appropriate and in exploring
placement alternatives.
This article is new; therefore, strike-throughs and
underscoring have been omitted.
This bill is recommended by the Legislative Commission on
Juvenile Law for passage at this session.
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